Charles Alvin Sanders is a former American football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 player who played tight end

Tight end

The tight end is a position in American football on the offense. The tight end is often seen as a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide receiver. Like offensive linemen, they are usually lined up on the offensive line and are large enough to be...

 for the Detroit Lions

Detroit Lions

The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit, Michigan. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League , and play their home games at Ford Field in Downtown Detroit.Originally based in Portsmouth, Ohio and...

 from 1968-77. On February 3, 2007, Sanders was voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame

Pro Football Hall of Fame

The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame of professional football in the United States with an emphasis on the National Football League . It opened in Canton, Ohio, on September 7, 1963, with 17 charter inductees...

.

Playing career

Sanders attended James B. Dudley High School

James B. Dudley High School

James Benson Dudley High School is located in the Southeastern quadrant of Guilford County in the city of Greensboro, North Carolina. Dudley High School was founded in 1929 as the first black high school in Guilford County, in a school system segregated by law...

 in Greensboro, North Carolina

Greensboro, North Carolina

Greensboro is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the third-largest city by population in North Carolina and the largest city in Guilford County and the surrounding Piedmont Triad metropolitan region. According to the 2010 U.S...

 and the University of Minnesota

University of Minnesota

The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...

. The Lions chose him in the third round of the 1968 NFL Draft

1968 NFL Draft

The 1968 National Football League Draft was part of the Common Draft, in the second year in which the NFL and AFL held a joint draft of college players on January 30–31.-Player selections:-Round one:-Round two:-Round three:-Round four:...

, and he became their starting

Starting lineup

A starting lineup in sports is an official list of the set of players who will actively participate in the event when the game begins. The players in the starting lineup are commonly referred to as starters, whereas the others are substitutes or bench players.The starters are commonly the best...

 tight end for the next ten seasons. He had 336 career receptions

Reception (American football)

In American football, a reception is part of a play in which a forward pass from behind the line of scrimmage is received by a player in bounds, who, after the catch, proceeds to either score a touchdown or be downed. Yards gained from the receiving play are credited to the player as receiving...

 and was known as a superior blocker

Blocking (American football)

In American football, blocking is a legal move occurring when one player obstructs another player's path with his body. The purpose of blocking is to prevent defensive players tackling the ball carrier, or to protect the quarterback while attempting to pass or hand-off the ball...

 as well as a receiver. He was chosen for the Pro Bowl

Pro Bowl

In professional American football, the Pro Bowl is the all-star game of the National Football League . Since the merger with the rival American Football League in 1970, it has been officially called the AFC–NFC Pro Bowl, matching the top players in the American Football Conference against those...

 seven times (1968–1971 and 1974–1976), and was named to the NFL 1970s All-Decade Team

NFL 1970s All-Decade Team

This is a list of all NFL players who have had outstanding performances throughout the 1970s and have been compiled onto this fantasy group. The team was selected by voters of the Pro Football Hall of Fame...

 as selected by voters of the Pro Football Hall of Fame

Pro Football Hall of Fame

The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame of professional football in the United States with an emphasis on the National Football League . It opened in Canton, Ohio, on September 7, 1963, with 17 charter inductees...

. Sanders is also a member of the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame. In 2008 he was chosen as a member of the Detroit Lions 75th Anniversary All Time Team.

After retirement

Sanders served as a color analyst on Lions radio broadcasts from 1983–88, worked with the team as an assistant in charge of wide receivers from 1989–96, and is currently their assistant director of pro personnel. In 2005, he co-authored Charlie Sanders' Tales from the Detroit Lions, a book of anecdotes about the team and its players.

Current roles

He is now the pre-game and halftime show co-host and sideline reporter of Detroit Lions pre-season games on the Detroit Lions Television Network

Detroit Lions Television Network

The Detroit Lions Television Network is a network of six television stations in Michigan that broadcast the NFL's Detroit Lions preseason games as well as its weekly regular season pregame show The Ford Lions Report. As of 2011, WXYZ-TV in Detroit is the flagship station...

. He also appears on the network's regular season pre-game show The Ford Lions Report.

Personal

Sanders and his wife, Georgianna, have nine children and live in Rochester, Michigan

Rochester, Michigan

Rochester is an affluent city in north Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan on the northern outskirts of metro Detroit. The population was 12,711 at the 2010 census...

. One of his daughters, Mary Jo

Mary Jo Sanders

Mary Jo Sanders is a female professional boxer. She is also daughter of NFL Hall of Famer, Charlie Sanders....

 is a pro boxer, and three of his sons played college football one at Ohio State University

Ohio State University

The Ohio State University, commonly referred to as Ohio State, is a public research university located in Columbus, Ohio. It was originally founded in 1870 as a land-grant university and is currently the third largest university campus in the United States...

, and had a brief NFL career with the Detroit Lions, one currently plays at Saginaw Valley State University

Saginaw Valley State University

Saginaw Valley State University, commonly known as SVSU, is a state university in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is located in the middle of Michigan's lower peninsula in the Saginaw Valley region. The university is located in Kochville Township, Saginaw County...

 and one is playing at Michigan State University

Michigan State University

Michigan State University is a public research university in East Lansing, Michigan, USA. Founded in 1855, it was the pioneer land-grant institution and served as a model for future land-grant colleges in the United States under the 1862 Morrill Act.MSU pioneered the studies of packaging,...

.

External links

• Charlie Sanders Official Website
• Pro Football Hall of Fame: Member profile
• Hall of Fame enshrinement speech
• IMDb Listing
• Lions Bio